Zidane content after debut win as Real Madrid coach

Madrid, Jan 10 (IANS) Zinedine Zidane insisted nothing had changed for the Real Madrid players as he watched his side defeat rival Spanish football side Deportivo la Coruna in his first game in-charge at the club here.

Zidane had only been named as the replacement for Rafael Benitez on Monday. A Gareth Bale hat-trick helped Zidane’s side to a 5-0 win on Saturday night in a much improved performance for Real Madrid, reports Xinhua.

“Nothing has changed among the players, the coach has changed and we aim to play as well as possible. It’s not easy to win 5-0 against a side like Depor and what I’ll take from this match is the attitude of the players who played and those who didn’t,” said Zidane.

The former French World Cup-winner confirmed that he wanted his players to try and play the ball out of defence and use fewer long passes than his predecessor.

“We want to bring the ball out with our feet and switch sides rapidly. We did that and the main thing is we’ll get better,” explained Zidane, who said that Cristiano Ronaldo had a good game, despite failing to score while Bale had done what he had asked the team, which was “defend when we don’t have the ball and open up the pitch to play when we do”.

Real Madrid’s next league game is also at the Santiago Bernabeu when they entertain struggling Sporting Gijon.